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Tuesday, 25 November 2014

When Women In Travel (WINiT) launched in America in January 2014, I jumped at the chance to get involved. I had heard about the not-for-profit organisation through an American colleague and discovered that its founder Mick Lee (Citigroup’s Head of General Services & Travel) had formed WINiT to help further the careers of women in the travel industry.

Mick Lee

After sending a quick message to the WINiT group on LinkedIn, I signed up for free and became a member myself. Then things developed quickly.

Almost immediately, I found myself connected to an incredible network of talented and high-profile professionals from all areas of the travel industry. The range of men and women who were already involved – including executives from major hotel chains, banking institutions and airlines – was staggering and they had all joined for one reason: to try to change the fact that women are still underrepresented at senior levels.

Fast-forward to six months later and, in July 2014, I was in sunny Los Angeles helping to organise the global launch event for 400 WINiT members. There WINiT outlined its ambitions to:

set up a global mentor scheme that will support women to go further

connect professionals around the globe online and at conferences and events

conduct research into the challenges faced by women in the industry

work with travel recruiters and CEOs to promote career mobility

WINiT launch

The widespread support that WINiT has since received has been truly inspirational and now, at this year’s Business Travel Show, the organisation is coming to Europe.

So, on February 25th-26th 2015, you’ll be able to talk to members at the WINiT stand and become a member for free. You’ll also be able to come along to a one-hour introductory session, get more information about WINiT’s mentor scheme and find out about what we are aiming to achieve. If you’d like to become involved with WINiT, please drop by and say hello I’ll be on the WINiT stand B40 just by the entrance.

Friday, 14 November 2014

For the majority of
travel managers, serviced apartments account for less than 10 per cent of their
overall accommodation bookings, yet (for longer stays, especially) they can
work out to be a more flexible option for travellers and a more cost effective
solution for organisations.

There are a number of
reasons why the use of serviced apartment accommodation is low compared to
hotels. The four most notable are poor supply, poor awareness, poor
distribution and a lack of industry standard.

In Europe, London
is the most mature serviced apartment market. However, with just 8,000 units in
total, equating to 1.2 per thousand travellers (New York has 5.2) it is small
in comparison globally. As demand grows, however, openings are becoming more
frequent and, in 2012, thanks in part to the Olympic Games, there was a surge of
building launches. Expansion continued throughout 2013 and 2014 and is forecast
to grow by an additional four per cent by the end of 2015.

Compared
to hotels, awareness of serviced apartments continues to be low among travel
managers and travellers – both corporate and leisure. Many people don’t know
they exist or understand what they are, what they offer and how they differ to
hotels. It doesn’t help, either, that they operate under different names
throughout the world, such as aparthotels, corporate housing, extended stay
residences and suites.

When it comes to distribution, serviced
apartments really lag behind that of hotels and are only just starting to
appear on the likes of booking.com, however, SACO is notable for making inroads into the GDS, which is
progress.

Despite all this, demand for serviced apartments is increasing, and with
good reason. They generally offer more space than hotels. According to ASAP,
serviced apartments are, on average, 30 per cent bigger than an equivalent
standard of hotel room. They are cost-effective, too, as there are no hidden
extras and longer stays often qualify for a discount. Featuring fully fitted
kitchens and, often, separate lounge areas, they also offer guests increased
flexibility to spend their time as they wish.

Serviced apartments may not always be the right solution
for every accommodation requirement. But, next time you’re travel programme is
up for a rethink, it’s definitely worth bearing them in mind as a valid – and
increasingly high quality – alternative for some of your travellers.